Why Are Republicans So Uncool?

The Republican Party has done its damnedest to sustain brand purity—which is both a rhetorical strength and an intellectual anchor. Ideological discipline comes with costs and benefits, and it turns out that a coolness deficit is among the former. Here’s a theory for dissection in the comments, then: the benefits of ideological discipline are political, whereas its costs are cultural. Whereas it behooves rhetoricians to build snappy, compelling rhetorical arguments for their platforms, such rigidity is kryptonite for the cultural cutting edge. Perhaps (and only perhaps) that’s because coolness relies heavily upon emotions—especially inchoate, unspecific ones. And hey, no one does amorphous and emotional platforms like the Left.